![]() ![]() He wasn't doing his job, and right in the middle of the game, Ron said, "OK, you're out of here." He ran the guy off and they stopped the game until they could find another guy. That's the guy on the other side of the chains that keeps track of where the ball is. We were at TCU one time and he ran the alternate box guy out. I saw him undress people that were auxiliary. Let me tell you, he expected excellence on the field. If I was cursing, "Hey buddy, that's enough of that." ![]() I've got to make sure I get back to the huddle in a calm manner." My cheerfulness and all the swag I claimed I had at the time, I had to straighten up and fly right around him. Like, "We've got Ron Cherry here, I've got to make sure my uniform's right. Ron." It was, "Hey Ron." And I was happy with that because it made us equal components in a lot of ways. I tried to call them by name if I could, and they called me Ron. I talked to a lot of players, just as I would anybody else. He could manage his crew, deal with coaches, knew the rules tremendously well but, beyond that, you really have to have common sense and know how to manage situations, and over the years, he just developed such a rapport with people and a respect from people. At the end of the meeting, walked out and said, "Walk with me, Ron." I said, "Oh hell, I'm about to get fired." He said, "Ron, I want to make you a referee." I don't know if all the color drained out of my body. The second season we had this roundtable meeting in Charlottesville with all the officials assembled. "I was on cloud nine," Cherry said, "because it was an opportunity to be part of the game." Cherry began his ACC career in 1993 and served as referee for the first time in Georgia Tech's 1994 game against Western Carolina, a day so hot Cherry thought he might pass out on the field, and a game so wild that "every penalty in the book, we called." When he was discharged and returned home to Virginia, he took a job with Norfolk Southern railroad and found extra work calling high school games for $2 or $3 a night. And it was out there and got a lot of mileage.Ĭherry was in the Air Force when he officiated his first football game. And once you communicate it out, it's out there and you can't get it back. I flipped the mic and made the announcement, I just said, "Personal foul, No. Like, what did Ron Cherry just call? It was the most ridiculous thing we'd ever heard. This was such a crappy game, but then you had to laugh. So I threw the flag.Īndre Brown, former NC State running back Sure as hell, a play or two later, they get started again, and this time I saw it. Old Kevin, every time we'd run a sweep to the left, he'd come up and cut my knees out. At least seven or eight people got into it a little. I remember it got a little chippy maybe two plays prior to it. Kevin Barnes, former Maryland defensive back We get a little later into the ballgame and I hear someone saying, "Ref, dammit, he can't do that." I looked down in the pile and I didn't see it, but I told the player, "Maybe I missed that." you have to interject yourself a lot more because there's some extracurricular activities. Usually when you have games that are lopsided like that. Ron Cherry was one of the top officials in the ACC, and I questioned, why did he get this game? Wasn't Clemson playing somebody that day? ![]() Steve Martin, play-by-play broadcaster for Lincoln Financial Network We were supposed to win, and for whatever reason, nothing worked. Kalani Heppe, former NC State offensive lineman We acted like we didn't even want to win that game. We were 5-6 with a chance to maybe get to a bowl game, which would've been a pretty big accomplishment. But this was a dreary Saturday, and Maryland was putting the wood to them. Going into Raleigh was always one of my favorite places to officiate a football game. This is the story of how former ACC referee Ron Cherry used one of those moments in an otherwise forgettable 2007 game between Maryland and NC State to make arguably the most famous call in college football history. There are moments in every game, however, when the referee flicks a switch on his belt, activating a microphone, and the entire audience - thousands in the stands and perhaps millions more on TV - hang on his every word. Manage the game, throw the flags and, unless you make a particularly egregious mistake, you're forgotten. The job of an official is to blend into the scenery. And you know that all you've got to do is click that puppy on and for the first time in your whole stupid life, the entire country is listening to every word that comes out of your mouth." - comedian Richard Jeni at the 1995 ESPYS You're not making the big millions like the football players, but you've got one thing. "You're a football ref, an ordinary man, 60, 65 years old. ![]()
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